U.S. patent application number 12/686592 was filed with the patent office on 2011-07-14 for platform with automatic lubrication mechanism.
Invention is credited to Tung-Hsin CHEN.
Application Number | 20110170808 12/686592 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44258579 |
Filed Date | 2011-07-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110170808 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
CHEN; Tung-Hsin |
July 14, 2011 |
PLATFORM WITH AUTOMATIC LUBRICATION MECHANISM
Abstract
A platform with automatic lubrication mechanism. The platform
includes at least one platform assembly. The platform assembly has
at least two guide sections, at least two slide sections
respectively slidably disposed on the guide sections, and at least
two lubricating sections fixedly disposed on the guide sections.
Each lubricating section has an internal cavity for containing
therein a lubricant or the like, and an oil-filling passage
extending from the cavity to the guide section to communicate with
openings formed on one side of the guide section. Through the
oil-filling passage, the cavity communicates with an exterior of
the guide section. The slide section is movable to push a push
member for making the lubricant or the like contained in the cavity
spill out of the openings to provide lubrication effect between the
guide section and the slide section.
Inventors: |
CHEN; Tung-Hsin; (Taichung
City, TW) |
Family ID: |
44258579 |
Appl. No.: |
12/686592 |
Filed: |
January 13, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
384/13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16C 29/0633 20130101;
F16C 33/6659 20130101; F16C 29/008 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
384/13 |
International
Class: |
F16C 33/10 20060101
F16C033/10 |
Claims
1. A platform with automatic lubrication mechanism, comprising at
least one platform assembly, the platform assembly including: at
least one board-like platform section; at least two elongated guide
sections fixedly disposed on an upper face of the platform section
in parallel to each other; at least two lubricating sections
without active power, the lubricating sections being disposed on
platform section in adjacency to first ends of the guide sections
respectively, each lubricating section having an internal cavity
and a push member, a first end of the push member being slidably
disposed in the cavity, a second end of the push member extending
from one side of the cavity to an exterior of the cavity, the
lubricating section further having an oil-filling passage, the
oil-filling passage extending from another side of the cavity to an
adjacent guide section to communicate with openings formed on one
side of the guide section, whereby the cavity communicates with an
exterior of the guide section via the oil-filling passage; and at
least two slide sections respectively slidably disposed on the
guide sections, the slide sections being drivable by a first
external force to reciprocally lengthwise move along the guide
sections, whereby when the slide sections are driven by the first
external force to move to first ends of the guide sections, end
faces of the slide sections abut against the second ends of the
adjacent push members, when the slide sections are further
controllably moved to push the push members, the first ends of the
push members sliding within the cavity to extrude a lubricant or
the like contained in the cavity out of the cavity into the
oil-filling passages, the lubricant then going through the
oil-filling passages to the openings formed on the guide sections
and spilling out of the openings.
2. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the number of the lubricating sections is four,
the four lubricating sections being arranged in pairs in adjacency
to the first ends and second ends of the guide sections
respectively, the number of the slide sections being also four, the
four slide sections being respectively slidably disposed on the
guide sections in pairs, the four slide sections being drivable by
the first external force to synchronously slide along the slide
sections, whereby when the slide sections are moved to the first
ends of the guide sections, the end faces of the slide sections
adjacent to the first ends of the guide sections abut against the
second ends of the adjacent push members to push the push members,
and when the slide sections are moved to the second ends of the
guide sections, end faces of the slide sections adjacent to the
second ends of the guide sections abut against the second ends of
the adjacent push members to push the push members.
3. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the number of the slide sections is four, the four
slide sections being respectively slidably disposed on the guide
sections in pairs and drivable by the first external force, the two
slide sections disposed on the same guide section being spaced from
each other by a predetermined distance, the oil-filling passage of
each lubricating section having at least two openings formed on one
side of the adjacent guide section, the two openings being spaced
from each other by a distance approximately equal to the
predetermined distance, whereby the lubricant or the like can spill
from the openings to where the slide sections are positioned.
4. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the number of the platform assemblies is two, a
bottom face of the platform section of a second platform assembly
being attached to upper faces of the slide sections of a first
platform assembly, whereby the platform section of the second
platform assembly is slidably disposed on the first platform
assembly.
5. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 4, wherein the number of the lubricating sections of the
first platform assembly is four, the four lubricating sections
being arranged in pairs in adjacency to the first ends and second
ends of the guide sections respectively, the number of the slide
sections of the first platform assembly being also four, the four
slide sections being respectively slidably disposed on the guide
sections in pairs, the four slide sections being drivable by the
first external force to synchronously slide along the slide
sections, whereby when the slide sections are moved to the first
ends of the guide sections, the end faces of the slide sections
adjacent to the first ends of the guide sections abut against the
second ends of the adjacent push members to push the push members,
and when the slide sections are moved to the second ends of the
guide sections, end faces of the slide sections adjacent to the
second ends of the guide sections abut against the second ends of
the adjacent push members to push the push members.
6. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 5, wherein the number of the slide sections of the second
platform assembly is four, the four slide sections being
respectively slidably disposed on the guide sections in pairs and
drivable by a second external force, the two slide sections
disposed on the same guide section being spaced from each other by
a predetermined distance, the oil-filling passage of each
lubricating section having at least two openings formed on one side
of the adjacent guide section, the two openings being spaced from
each other by a distance approximately equal to the predetermined
distance, whereby the lubricant or the like can spill from the
openings to where the slide sections are positioned.
7. The platform with automatic lubrication mechanism as claimed in
claim 4, wherein the guide sections of the second platform assembly
have a length perpendicular to that of the guide sections of the
first platform assembly.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to a linear motor,
and more particularly to a platform with automatic lubrication
mechanism.
[0002] FIG. 1 shows a conventional linear motor 1 having a mover 2
and a stator 3. The mover 2 is linearly reciprocally movable by
means of the magnetic field effect between the mover 2 and the
stator 3. The mover 2 is guided with linear guide rails 4 for
controlling the linear track of the mover 2 and stabilizing the
motion of the mover 2. The mover 2 is carried by sliders 5 slidably
mounted on the slide rails 4, whereby the guide rails 4 can guide
the mover 2 to reciprocally move.
[0003] To speak more specifically, ball bodies or rollers are held
between the sliders 5 and the slide rails 4 to reduce frictional
force so as to stabilize and smoothen the relative sliding motion
of the sliders 5 along the slide rails 4. However, considerably
great frictional force still exists between the ball bodies and the
faces in contact with the ball bodies. Therefore, it is still
necessary to lubricate the guide members.
[0004] FIG. 2 shows a conventional self-lubricating mechanism for
lubricating the guide members. An oil reservoir 6 is connected with
one side of the slider 5 for containing lubricating oil. The oil
reservoir 6 has woolen felts 7 to provide capillary effect for
feeding the lubricating oil reserved in the oil reservoir 6 between
the ball bodies and the faces in contact therewith.
[0005] In normal use environment, such mechanism is able to achieve
a certain lubricating effect. However, in a vacuum operation
environment, the lubricating oil will have very high viscosity so
that the capillary effect will be unapparent. Therefore, the guide
members can be hardly lubricated with such self-lubricating
mechanism in the vacuum operation environment. However, most of the
production equipments for the current high-precision semiconductor
products or plane displays require vacuum environment.
[0006] FIG. 3 shows a conventional pump-pressurized lubricating
mechanism. By means of an external pressurizing pump 8, the
lubricating oil is pumped into the slider 5 through an oil tube 9.
The lubricating oil is then filled between the ball bodies and the
faces in contact therewith. When using a linear motor in a vacuum
operation environment, such mechanism is able to achieve the
purpose of lubrication. However, in the vacuum environment, there
is no medium so that the heat generated by the pressurizing pump 8
cannot be dissipated via air. Moreover, the pressurizing pump 8 is
an additional component with respect to the linear motor, which
will occupy much room and lead to increment of load. Accordingly,
the pump-pressurized lubricating mechanism is not an optimal
lubricating measure for the linear motor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to
provide a platform with automatic lubrication mechanism, which can
provide lubrication effect without using any additional power
source so as to save energy.
[0008] It is a further object of the present invention to provide
the above platform with automatic lubrication mechanism, which can
be adaptively used in a vacuumed operation environment such as a
vacuumed chamber to achieve reliable lubrication effect.
[0009] It is still a further object of the present invention to
provide the above platform with automatic lubrication mechanism in
which one single lubricating section can provide lubrication effect
for more than one slide sections. Therefore, the load is reduced to
save energy.
[0010] To achieve the above and other objects, the platform with
automatic lubrication mechanism of the present invention includes
at least one platform assembly. The platform assembly includes: at
least one board-like platform section; at least two elongated guide
sections fixedly disposed on an upper face of the platform section
in parallel to each other; at least two lubricating sections
without active power, the lubricating sections being disposed on
platform section in adjacency to first ends of the guide sections
respectively, each lubricating section having an internal cavity
and a push member, a first end of the push member being slidably
disposed in the cavity, a second end of the push member extending
from one side of the cavity to an exterior of the cavity, the
lubricating section further having an oil-filling passage, the
oil-filling passage extending from another side of the cavity to an
adjacent guide section to communicate with openings formed on one
side of the guide section, whereby the cavity communicates with an
exterior of the guide section via the oil-filling passage; and at
least two slide sections respectively slidably disposed on the
guide sections. The slide sections are drivable by a first external
force to reciprocally lengthwise move along the guide sections.
When the slide sections are driven by the first external force to
move to first ends of the guide sections, end faces of the slide
sections abut against the second ends of the adjacent push members.
When the slide sections are further controllably moved to push the
push members, the first ends of the push members sliding within the
cavity to extrude a lubricant or the like contained in the cavity
out of the cavity into the oil-filling passages. The lubricant then
goes through the oil-filling passages to the openings formed on the
guide sections and spilling out of the openings.
[0011] The present invention can be best understood through the
following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a conventional
linear motor;
[0013] FIG. 2 shows a conventional self-lubricating mechanism;
[0014] FIG. 3 shows a conventional pumped lubrication
mechanism;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of
the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of one of the lubricating
sections of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line a-a of FIG. 4,
showing the operation of the first platform assembly in one
state;
[0018] FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line a-a of FIG. 4,
showing the operation of the first platform assembly in another
state; and
[0019] FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line b-b of FIG. 4,
showing the operation of the second platform assembly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0020] Please refer to FIGS. 4 to 7. According to a preferred
embodiment, the platform 10 with automatic lubrication mechanism of
the present invention includes a first platform assembly 20 and a
second platform assembly 30. The first platform assembly 20
includes a rectangular board-like first platform section 21 with a
certain thickness. The first platform section 21 is horizontally
positioned as a base for a linear motor. Other components of the
linear motor are arranged on the first platform section 21.
[0021] The first platform assembly 20 further includes three
elongated first guide sections 22. The first guide sections 22 are
fixedly disposed on an upper face of the first platform section 21
in parallel to the length of the rectangular first platform section
21.
[0022] The first platform assembly 20 further includes six first
lubricating sections 23 without active power. The first lubricating
sections 23 are fixedly disposed on the upper face of the first
platform section 21 in adjacency to three first ends and three
second ends of the first guide sections 22 respectively. To speak
more specifically, each first lubricating section 23 has a main
body 231 fixedly disposed on the first platform section 21. The
main body 231 is formed with an internal cylindrical cavity 232.
The first lubricating section 23 further has an elongated push
member 233. The push member 233 has a large-diameter piston section
2331 as a first end and a small-diameter rod section as a second
end. The piston section 2331 has a diameter approximately equal to
that of the cavity 232 and is slidably disposed in the cavity 232.
The rod section of the push member 233 extends from one side of the
cavity 232 to an exterior of the main body 231 in a direction
parallel to the length of the first platform section 21. The first
lubricating section 23 further has an oil-filling passage 234. The
oil-filling passage 234 extends from another side of the cavity 232
through the first platform section 21 to a corresponding first
guide section 22 to communicate with several pairs of openings 2341
formed on two lateral sides of the first guide section 22.
Accordingly, The cavity 232 communicates with an exterior of the
first guide section 22 via the oil-filling passage 234.
[0023] The first platform assembly 20 further includes six first
slide sections 24 respectively slidably disposed on the first guide
sections 22 in pairs. The six first slide sections 24 are drivable
by the same linear motor. The mover of the linear motor applies a
first external force to the first slide sections 24 to make the
first slide sections 24 reciprocally lengthwise move along the
first guide sections 22.
[0024] According to the above arrangement, when lubrication is
needed, the first slide sections 24 are driven to move to the first
ends of the first guide sections 22. At this time, end faces of
three first slide sections 24 adjacent to the first ends of the
first guide sections 22 abut against free ends of the rod sections
of the adjacent push members 233. Then, the first slide sections 24
are further controllably moved to push the push members 233,
whereby the piston sections 2331 extrude the lubricant or the like
contained in the cavity 232 out of the cavity 232 into the
oil-filling passages 234. The lubricant then goes through the
oil-filling passages 234 to the openings 2341 and spills out of the
openings 2341 to achieve lubrication effect. The first slide
sections 24 can move to the second ends of the first guide sections
22 to achieve the lubrication effect in the same manner.
[0025] The second platform assembly 30 includes a rectangular
board-like second platform section 31 with a certain thickness. A
bottom face of the second platform section 31 is attached to and
fixedly disposed on upper faces of the first slide sections 24. The
length of the rectangular second platform section 31 is
perpendicular to the length of the rectangular first platform
section 21. Accordingly, the second platform section 31 can be
synchronously moved with the first slide sections 24.
[0026] The second platform assembly 30 further includes two
elongated second guide sections 32. The second guide sections 32
are fixedly disposed on an upper face of the second platform
section 31 in parallel to the length of the rectangular second
platform section 31.
[0027] The second platform assembly 30 further includes two second
lubricating sections 33 fixedly disposed on the upper face of the
second platform section 31 in adjacency to first ends of the second
guide sections 32 respectively. The second lubricating sections 33
are substantially identical to the first lubricating sections 23 in
structure. The second lubricating sections 33 are only different
from the first lubricating sections 23 in that the oil-filling
passage 334 of each second lubricating section 33 has two sets of
openings 3341, 3342 spaced from each other by a certain
distance.
[0028] The second platform assembly 30 further includes four second
slide sections 34 respectively slidably disposed on the second
guide sections 32 in pairs. The four second slide sections 34 are
drivable by the same linear motor. The mover of the linear motor
applies a second external force to the second slide sections 34 to
make the second slide sections 34 reciprocally move along the
second guide sections 32. The two second slide sections 34 disposed
on the same second guide section 32 are spaced by a distance
approximately equal to the distance between the two sets of
openings 3341, 3342. A movable platform 40 is mounted on and
connected with the second slide sections 34, whereby the second
slide sections 34 can be synchronously moved.
[0029] With respect to the second platform assembly 30, via the two
sets of openings of each second lubricating section 33, the same
second lubricating section 33 can provide lubrication effect
between the two second slide sections 34 and the second guide
section 32 on which the two second slide sections 34 are disposed.
In comparison with the second lubricating section 33, the first
lubricating section 23 of the first platform assembly 20 can
provide lubrication effect between one single first slide sections
24 and the first guide section 22 on which the first slide section
24 is disposed.
[0030] According to the above arrangement, the lubricating sections
of the platform 10 with automatic lubrication mechanism of the
present invention can automatically provide lubrication effect by
means of the original power of the linear motor. Therefore, the
additional power source of the conventional device is saved.
Moreover, in the second platform assembly 30, one single
lubricating section can provide lubrication effect for more than
one slide sections. Therefore, the load is reduced to save
energy.
[0031] The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the present
invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many
modifications of the above embodiment can be made without departing
from the spirit of the present invention.
* * * * *